A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
In March 2011, the university discovered there had been an unauthorised breach of student records for over a year after a member of staff failed to properly secure a test area of the website in September 2009.
Student information, including names, dates of birth, contact details, student numbers and entrance qualifications, was made available and 148 individual records were accessed before the breach was noticed.
Students were emailed by registrar David Duncan and made aware of the problem, and the university insisted: “The protection of all our staff and student data is of the utmost importance and we have apologised unreservedly for this breach.”
The university informed the Information Commissioner and internal auditors, resulting in an investigation of all data management systems and data security procedures.
In response to the investigation, the Vice Chancellor has signed a Letter of Undertaking reaffirming the University's commitment to the security of personal data, particularly during systems maintenance and when data is accessed remotely.
In a statement today the University of York said: “The University has taken a number of steps to improve its processes and the security of its systems, acting on recommendations from an internal investigation and three internal audits. The changes made will result in a new structure and culture of information governance within the University.
“In response to the investigation, the Vice Chancellor has signed a Letter of Undertaking reaffirming the University's commitment to the security of personal data, particularly during systems maintenance and when data is accessed remotely.
“The University has also committed to performing annual penetration and vulnerability testing on systems where personal data is stored. The ICO now considers the matter closed.”
University of York’s Registrar and Secretary, Dr David Duncan, added: "This was an unfortunate incident which was rectified expeditiously and with professionalism by University staff. We have already taken action to enhance the security of our systems, and we have made a number of undertakings to the ICO for a range of further measures to safeguard our information governance."
Full details of the ICO investigation and a copy of the Letter of Undertaking are available on the ICO website.
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